Our World is a Very Speedy Place

Tip of the Day: everyone knows this I know, but don't forget to vote on Nov. 6 (or earlier if you are one of those people that plans ahead)!

Not that I want to get political on this blog, because I don't really think this is the forum for that and I'm  respectful of the fact that many people have different opinions then me. But after watching the debate this evening and then immediately turning to my twitter feed to read people's thoughts, I am once again reminded how fast the world moves now--which affects us tremendously as writers.

http://bindersfullofwomen.tumblr.com/

I was about 10 minutes behind due to pausing my DVR and by the time I got online there were already over 90,000 likes on the Binder Full of Women Facebook site and lots of sample pictures posted on Tumblr which were Photoshopped at break-neck speeds. Sure people probably started creating these mid-way through. But still. That is FAST. And they have probably already quadrupled by now.

The last question of the night came from a guy named Barry and by the time I got to twitter there were hundreds--if not thousands--of spoofs with the #toughquestionsfrombarry.

As a society we are moving so fast, so it makes sense all of this stuff was available in such a very short period of time. But as writers that makes our job extremely difficult. Most readers don't want to wait a week to read another one of your books--let alone a year. Who has time to actually write an entire book in one week? And write it well. It's impossible.

I guess you could plan them all in advance and then release them closer together. But by the time you'd get around to releasing them the trends will have changed and everything will be different.

During a staff meeting the other day, someone mentioned a statistic that I can't remember exactly, but basically you can't take longer than one or two months to do a complete website redesign. Because if you take longer than that everything will already be outdated.

Wow...wow...wow. My head just spins thinking about what readers expect now. And what people in general expect in relation to everything revolving around written communication.

And the sad part is I can't even complain, because I'm probably the same way. I'd love to be able to read a book from my favorite author every week. I loved watching the debate and knowing that I could instantly find tons of comments online afterwards. It's just the way it is and it's great. But in the flip, I try to be a bit more lax because doing some of these things I realize the time commitment and can understand people aren't superhuman.

My only hope is that other people are just as lax and don't think books can be created with such speed that blogs, tweets, etc. can be created.

eBooks in general have drastically speed up the publishing process. Megg's post about serials gaining in popularity is yet a further sign of how much publishing is changing in regard to the speed with which books come out. And I'm sure there are even more to come. Probably by the time you are reading this post, there has already been a change in publishing to speed it along even further! 

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

Are Serials the New Thing?

Tip of the Day: No one notices the dust in your house except for you. If someone does notice, hand them a feather duster. ;)

Last year, my good friend Karly Kirkpatrick came up with this revolutionary idea: we should write serials, like a TV show, then release them every couple of weeks.

I respected Karly's opinion, but I thought it would be a TON of work for little payment. A serial is short (7,500 - 15,000 words), so it's not worth pricing above 99 cents. For self-pubs, a 99 cent sale on Amazon garners just a 35 cent profit.

I filed the idea away  in the back of my head. I hadn't written short stories in years, even though in the late 90's I'd sold quite a few (under my real name - lol, yes, I have more names than I can keep track of too) to magazines. Short stories weren't my favorite medium. Karly had an interesting idea, but not one I was ready to pursue.

One year later, I'm doing just that. Working on a set of five novelettes. Each has its own storyline, but they are part of a bigger story that spans all five books. Starting October 23rd, I'm going to release my mini-series.

The debut is 10/23, then every two weeks through 12/18 I'll release another story.

It's been quite an adventure. I never announce release dates until I'm done editing. With this series, I have deadlines imposed on me that I must keep. It's good motivation to write, if nothing else.

And yes, I'm doing this under another pen name - Isobel Lucas. Why? The books have more language and sexual content than my readers are used to. The last thing I need are 12-year-olds picking up these books. The mom in me can't stand the thought.

Okay, so back to serials. A couple of weeks ago, Amazon announced they're starting up a serials imprint. More and more authors are taking this path. It should be interesting to see if the reading public enjoys the concept. ePublishing is a really fluid place - the rules change all the time. I'm just having fun experimenting with the medium.

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber